Science Fiction Film develops a historical and cultural approach to the genre that moves beyond close readings of iconography and formal conventions. It explores how this increasingly influential genre has been constructed from disparate elements into a hybrid genre. Science Fiction Film goes beyond a textual exploration of these films to place the...

While the original Starcrash could hardly be called a masterpiece, it is light years away from this in-name only sequel which reuses some of its predecessor's already not too special effects footage on multiple occasions, sometimes even playing the same shots forward and in reverse for further economy. The key to the difference between the two films' actual approaches lies in Starcrash II / Escape from Galaxy 3's original Italian title: Giochi erotici nella 3a galassia or Erotic Games in the 3rd Galaxy.

This is the first in what will be an ongoing series I intend to write here about movie rip-offs, knock-offs, clones and cash-ins. This introduction should hopefully explain what I take those terms to mean and suggest the kind of amazing (though sometimes amazingly awful) movies and filmmakers I want to talk about. There’s a…